Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-05-16
UTAH EDUCATION.

The DEMOCRAT is the champion of
free school system for Utah. THE DEM
oCRAT is the advocate OF education. 1t
desires that every child in the Territory
shall be thoroughly prepared for the bat
tie Of life. 1t desires that the fathers
and mothers of Utah shall see their chill
dren go forth from beneath the home
roof tree to the inevitable conflict with
;he world, fully panoplied, and armed at
all points. In these days of modern
progress and innovation, the needs. of
humanity are multiplied, and the
responsibilities Of parents are ever
on the increase. Mind not only rules
the world, but it is the irresistible de-
mand of the age that the mind should
he cultivated. In Utah is the educational
soil rich, but it is as yet unreclaimed.
The plow is the plow of the past and
does not the work of the present. The
husbandman tills not with the times.
He is an educational Ephriam, and is
welded to idols as feeble as they are
false. The implements and superstitions
OF by-gone days are alike worth
less. The harvest which fills to burst
ing the graneries Of the nine
ieenth century does not spring
from the shallow furrow of the wooden
plow, and intellect's prolific yield owes
rot its garnering to the palsied grasp of
dccayed dogmas and rotten traditions. If
Utah would be of the procession of prog
ress, she must move. If Utah would see,
she must emerge from the darkness. II
Utah would be prosperous, she must
invoke prosperity. Ii Utah would be free,
she must strike for her own hand. All
OF the magnificent possibilities which
await upon Utah; all of the glorious
capabilities which are hers by divine
gift, find their fruition in one word, and
that word is Education" In the preg-
nant syllabl This word is the conse-
Grafton of Utah's destiny. It's the trans
forming wand of Progress, the modern
good genii. 1t is the "Open Sesame"
which is TO threw wide the door that the
people may behold treasures before
which the dazzling splendors of Ali
Baba's cave will pale to insignifcance.
(In passing we might remark also that
the forty thieves will be slain.) Edu-
cation 10 tharofo-a +l,a f,t,,,o of TT4.L
1t is the power that is to make her
great. 1t is the mighty and be-
nificent hand that is to encircle her fair
brows with diadem; at is to adorn
her with gems; that is to robe her in
the garments of riches and honor. 1t is
the voice that is to decree her strength,
and proclaim her beauty. Such is the
work of education, and such is Utah's
future. Let her people therefore utilize
that work at the earliest possible mo-
moment, and speedily make that future
the present. The field is to be
cultivated, and the implement is
ready to the hand. The bright |
patnWay is talr and open, and |
the people can traverse it at will. |
In our city must the first move be made.
In Salt Lake, the metropolis OF the Ter
ritory, the future Queen of the West,
must the cause of education receive its |
impetus Our city must be as a sun
with radiations of light. And here, fortu-
nately, the first steps have already been
made. The line OF march is already |
taken up. Effort and courage will tri-
umph. But the more vigorous the effort,
the more steady the courage, the earlier
will be the '-iumph. Indifference must
disappear. Apathy must be banished
There must be a realization of the issues
and duties of the hour, and determina-
ton that those issues will be bravely
met and those duties sternly performed.
Then will the cause of Utah education
be invincible, and for Utah will the clock
OF Time mark the hours of the age.